Day ahead of BRICS meet, ‘IM terrorist’ held in Capital

A suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorist, an alleged aide of the outfit's elusive chief operative Yasin Bhatkal, was arrested from north-east Delhi with one kg explosives and a detonator, police said on Wednesday.

The Delhi Police on Wednesday arrested a 20-year-old suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorist, who is said to be a close aide of the outfit’s absconding chief operative Ahmad Siddi Bappa aka Yasin Bhatkal.

The suspected terrorist, identified as Assadullah Rehman alias Dilkash, was arrested from his Chandu Nagar hideout in northeast Delhi’s Karawal Nagar by Delhi Police’s special team.

He was arrested following a tip off about his presence in the area, police said.

Dilkash, a senior police officer said, was part of the recently cracked IM Darbhanga module that was responsible for a series of terrorist attacks in India, including the Jama Masjid attack and the Pune German Bakery blast.

“He was the main caretaker of the IM’s arms factory in west Delhi’s Nangloi that was unearthed by the special team in November, 2011. Dilkash, who hails from

Darbanga in Bihar, had allegedly escaped from the arms factory before the police crackdown, during which a number of suspected IM terrorists were nabbed by the police,” said the senior officer.

Dilkash, the officer said, was appointed as an IM operative in 2010 by Mohammad Qafeel Ahmad, another suspected IM terrorist who was nabbed by the police on February 22, 2012.

“Dilkash, who completed Class 12, wanted to study engineering until he came in Qafeel’s contact, who motivated him to such an extent that he joined the outfit to fight for jihad. Qafeel had promised him that he would help him pursue his career in engineering. But instead of keeping his promise, Qafeel introduced Dilkash to Siddi Bappa who motivated him further and included him in his module,” the officer added.

During interrogation, an investigating officer said, Dilkash disclosed that in April 2011, on instructions from Siddi Bappa, he reached Delhi and was taken to the factory at Meer Vihar in Nangloi. There he learnt to work on the lathe machine and assisted Mohammad Irshad and Siddi Bappa in allegedly manufacturing of pistols and other arms and ammunition.

“Dilkash became one of the trusted aides of Siddi Bappa since the latter was very impressed with the knowledge he had in hardware and expertise in manufacturing weapons.,” added the officer.